Centrelink robo-debt program creating a 'climate of fear'

The Australian Taxation Office says the "robo-debt" debacle is not its fault and it is unhappy being publicly linked with Centrelink's controversial debt-recovery program.

Senior ATO officials told a Senate committee investigating robodebt on Wednesday that the ATO simply handed its data on taxpayers over to Centrelink's parent department, Human Services, which then used an automated system to raise debts.

It also emerged in Wednesday's hearings that Centrelink had been paid just $24 million of the $300 million it says it is owed under the program with some debtors paying back as little as $5 per week.

But Department of Human Services Secretary Kathryn Campbell said there were no plans to heed the widespread calls for the program to be scrapped and that it would continue with "refinements".

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ATO Deputy Commissioner Greg Williams appeared before a Senate Committee hearing into the Centrelink robot debt collection on Wednesday.Credit:Andrew Meares

Ms Campbell said the biggest challenges faced by the debt recovery program was a "failure to engage" by Centrelink clients and changes would include using registered mail, simpler language and a better online log-in system.

"The view of the department is that there are a number of refinements that needed to be made, those refinements are being made, and that the system should continue," Ms Campbell said.

Deputy Commissioner of Taxation Greg Williams told senators that his agency "reached out" to Human Services as the public and political backlash against the program grew, only to be told that its help was not needed.

He said it was not technically correct to say the ATO had been involved in "data-matching."

Dr Cassandra Goldie, CEO of the Australian Council of Social Service, labelled the government's robo-debt program "an abuse of power".Credit:Jessica Hromas

"We are involved in identity matching and the provision of data, but we are not involved in the data-matching that occurs on the DSS/DHS side," Mr Williams said.

"We are trying to maintain the level of integrity in the role of the ATO in this exercise."

The committee was earlier told the federal government and Centrelink have created a "climate of fear" in the Australian community with their "aggressive" pursuit of the robo-debt program.

The Australian Council of Social Services told the committee that the whole program is "an abuse of power".

The council also alleged that external debt collectors, hired by Centrelink to enforce the automatically generated debts, are breaking consumer laws in their pursuit of the agency's clients.

More than 200,000 people have been affected by the program, which uses an automated system to match information supplied to Centrelink with that given to the Australian Tax office.

The Senate was last week told that more than 6500 people had no idea they had been targeted for debts when they were contacted by debt collectors.

ACOSS chief executive Cassandra Goldie told the committee that the number of people who had been intimidated into repaying debts they did not really owe was unknown.

"The impact of this robo-debt system, as it has come to be known, has been to cause extensive distress and suffering right across the community with thousands of people affected," Dr Goldie said.

"In the lead-up to this program being unleashed there was a perception created that if you do not comply, you may go to jail.

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"We believe the actions of the government has culminated in creating a serious climate of fear around this program."